WALES TO BANK £5M TITLE BOOST
WELSH rugby is in line for a £5million cash boost from Wayne Pivac’s team winning the Six Nations title. Scotland’s thrilling victory over France in Paris on Friday night confirmed Wales as champions, which means a big pot of competition prize money is heading the way of the WRU.
Last season, the RFU received £5m for England winning the title.
The exact amount paid out depends on the total profit the Six Nations makes each year.
Around 85 per cent of that is divided equally six ways and the rest is divided up depending where you finish in the table, with the winners getting the biggest slice.
There is then a bonus for completing the Grand Slam. That saw Wales receive £5.5m for securing a clean sweep in 2019.
It’s not yet confirmed precisely how much the WRU will get for Pivac’s men topping the table, but the expectation is it will be around the £5m mark.
The Union has budgeted for Wales finishing either second or third in recent years as a base line, so the title triumph means an additional couple of million coming into the governing body.
Out of the £5m, you then pay the win bonuses to the coaches and players, which could amount to more than £1m in all. There may also be additional costs related to Covid compliance, in terms of testing, charter flights, single bedrooms and so on. What’s left over as surplus then goes into the overall WRU income pot, alongside TV money, sponsorship, merchandise sales and - in normal times – ticket revenue and concert cash.
After the £12m ring-fenced funding to the community game is paid out of that pot, the remainder goes to the Professional Rugby Board for distribution to the regions.
With the budgeted finishing position having been exceeded, the four pro teams will be hoping to receive around an additional £500,000 in total between them, compared to what was planned for.
That will be extra money which will come their way as part of next season’s payments.
It will be a welcome boost given the financial pressure they are facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Their payments from the WRU for access to their players and other services have been slashed from £26m to £3m this season.
To cover that shortfall and keep the pro game afloat, the Union took out a £20m back loan with NatWest.
But that money is having to be paid back by the regions, leaving them facing a sizeable debt.
They are hoping to see the terms of that loan renegotiated and extended over as long as 20 years to reduce the burden in terms of annual repayments.
Their fans have argued it should not be the regions having to pay back the loan, especially as the WRU is receiving £51m as part of CVC’s investment in the Six Nations.
But none of that money will be going directly to the pro teams. Instead, it will be spent on capital projects, examples of which include the Westgate Street hotel and the Principality Stadium roof-walk experience. That will be done with the aim of generating long-term income for the Welsh game.
In the meantime, the regions face short-term financial challenges, so they will welcome an additional £500,000 as a result of Wales’ Six Nations success.